surrender

Praha Hlavni Nadrazi train station provides a great metaphor for the relationship between the past and the present that I observed on my first day in Prague. Upstairs is the historical building, well-lit with warm lighting shining from elegant fixtures. I see a handful of tourists photographing the spacious high dome and its paintings. A look over the balcony reveals the work-a-day walking tunnels of the new section of the station. Low-ceilings, brightly lit by functional fluorescent lighting, which gives the faces of the commuters rushing to catch their trains a greenish, sickly glow. The space feels and looks like a theatre set, with each tier simultaneously telling a vastly different story. As I descend the escalator the theatre continues and a different setting unfolds as I am confronted by a film crew, staging their own reality in the station. I am left to wonder how many of the hurrying travellers I saw were in fact extras in a film…